I've been reading "Girl with No Shadow," the sequel to "Chocolat" by Joanne Harris. It's set in Paris, but of course was written in English. The characters though are French, and one of them is an 11-year-old girl. I was wondering how French kids would actually say (if they would) two expressions that this girl uses, which are common among American teenagers expressing their feelings about the tiresomeness of adults. One is "well, duh!" (which generally means something like "that's a stupidly obvious thing to say"), and the other is "Whatever...." (implied is "you can say whatever you want, but don't expect it to change the way I really feel.")

For "Well, duh!", I would say "Sans blague!" (No joke!).

For "Whatever...", I would say "Cause toujours..." (Keep talking...).

Keep in mind that I am 34 years old so I am not current in kid-speak

Roz, is the sequel as good as Chocolat? It's on my "list".

Laura

Thanks, Sylvain, and Laura, yes the sequel is very good. For anyone who might be reading this from the UK, I understand that the book was originally published there as "The Lollipop Shoes."

- Roz